#did it just come up some other time ??? how much has Ed talked about Izzy to Stede ???

[izzyhandsy]

right so do we think Ed actually said Izzy taught him everything he knows or was that just Stede saying what he knew would make Izzy more agreeable…?

[ineffably-human]

It's completely okay they had sex. There is nothing wrong with it and it isn't what temporarily broke them up.

They are both grown-ass men who've had sex with other people before (for various reasons and with various results). The seriousness of their relationship doesn't rise or fall on whether they've had sex because despite social mores, those two things aren't intrinsically linked. Sex is part of how people process complicated feelings all the time (see: funerals, near-death situations), and if both parties are clearly consenting then that isn't necessarily a bad thing or something that ruins a relationship.

Ed wakes up and gets rid of a tangible part of a persona he's wanted to shed for a long time. He makes his lover breakfast in bed. He's not rattled by Izzy coming in to tease them, if anything he's calmer than Stede is (which makes sense as the partner who has actually been with a man/had sex he enjoyed before).

They have a very happy date where Stede's new celebrity status doesn't bother him at all. Ed getting rid of the Blackbeard leathers 'felt good.' More gentle ribbing about sex with Stede gets a smile from Ed.

(They could have chosen to talk about Ned Lowe that morning, by the way, or at some other time that day, or literally whenever they both felt ready to do it. I don't think they did and I think they really should, but they by no means had to process every bit of it five whole seconds after it happened.)

There is no awkwardness, distance, or upset between Ed and Stede until it becomes clear just how much Stede is blowing up as a newly successful pirate, and just how much Ed is thinking about retiring. His conversation with Jackie highlights just how much those are incongruous things. That's when he freaks out and leaves. That's when he starts picking a fight - about how they're moving too fast, about how Stede isn't instantly supportive of his plan to drop everything and run off to a new career, about how fishermen and pirates are fundamentally different or whatever shit he says in the moment.

Because Stede is 100% correct about what Ed is doing - he's blowing it up. Ed is looking for the barest hint of conflict anywhere he can to turn into a bigger fight, and then using that as an excuse to leave before Stede can do it first. And Stede may think that's a fear of commitment or intimacy or something, since he doesn't have the full context, but it absolutely is a cowardly move.

I've seen posts saying Ed is clearly communicating his needs and I feel like I'm living on another planet. Did he ever say 'I'm scared we want fundamentally different lives and that means we can't be together'? Or 'I'm worried the life you want to embrace is the life I need to drop, because it's toxic for me'? Because until he says that, he hasn't told Stede anything.

And nothing about those very real fears has anything to do with sex.

[ontologicalsynaesthesia]

It's so interesting to me that Izzy's suicide attempt wound heals very slowly, and leaves a big visible scar, in a show where characters regularly shrug off much worse injuries. You can even see it under his drag makeup:

Injuries in OFMD seem to have a physical impact on the character more or less in proportion to their psychological impact, regardless of how serious the wound should realistically be. In S1E4, Stede spends one episode injured after getting stabbed and hanged due to his hubris and incompetence, but then he's fine after hanging out with Ed for a while and getting some validation. In S1E6, Stede spends an entire night impaled on a sword, but he doesn't even seem to be in pain and suffers no lasting damage because it's not a psychological wound. And of course, in S2E3, Ed comes back to life more or less physically intact after realizing that Stede is there waiting for him, even though he should have been very, very dead after what the crew did to him.

But all of Izzy's injuries have a realistic impact on his body, in a way that isn't the case for any other character. I think some of that can be attributed to his Only Human In A Muppet Movie status, but it's also because of his uniquely fucked up relationship with Ed.

Ed causes all of Izzy's injuries, and I think they affect Izzy so permanently because of how deeply invested and dependent Izzy is on his relationship with Ed; his whole sense of self is bound up in it. Those wounds represent the toxicity of their relationship and how much it's damaged Izzy.

In contrast, when Izzy shoots Ed in the arm, the wound doesn't seem to stick around; we never see any evidence of it after that moment. Ed's actions have a far deeper impact on Izzy than Izzy's actions have on Ed, because there's always been an inequality in their relationship; Izzy cares about Ed much more than Ed cares about him, and that's the fundamental problem for Izzy.

Izzy post S2E4 has made a deliberate decision to move on from what happened between him and Ed, because it was so big and so awful that it's not the kind of thing he could either just forgive or ignore. And I think his Ed-induced suicide attempt was kind of the final straw; it's after that that he goes on deck and shoots Ed, which David Jenkins has described as Izzy "breaking up" with him. I don't think Izzy's stopped being in love with Ed, but he's stopped trying to influence his behavior as much, or even spend much time with him at all, and he's spending time with other characters instead.

But for all his change in behavior, every time he's on screen, we get a visual reminder of what happened, in both his leg and the scar on his face. Both are emphatically visible in the above scene, when Izzy and Stede are talking about Ed. It's a reminder of the impetus for Izzy's character arc this season, his relationship with Ed, and I think it's an indication that he hasn't fully healed psychologically, and probably never will. All he can do is keep moving forward.

[piratecaptainscaptainpirates]

One thing about Izzy that I find very hilarious is that whenever he attempts to do anything in Ed and Stede's relationship it backfires horribly.

In season 1, Izzy obviously wanted to break Ed and Stede up. He's honestly the reason they even met - he lied to Ed and told him that Stede told Blackbeard to "go suck eggs in hell," which just cemented Ed's interest in Stede. Duelling Stede only got Izzy kicked off the ship, and calling the cops on them made Ed sign the Act of Grace for Stede. Literally all Izzy wanted was Stede Bonnet out of his life (and Ed's by extension) and all he did was push their relationship along.

And then. In season 2. Oh my g-d in season 2. Izzy grows as a person and realizes, hey, maybe they're good for each other and I was just being the biggest asshole on the planet before. Whoops. And so he tells Ed, hey, throwing your Blackbeard outfit overboard felt good? Maybe you should listen to that feeling :). And what this accomplished, because Izzy has the worst timing in the entire world, was adding to Ed's feelings that he and Stede were in incompatible places in their lives, so Ed decided then to go get a job on a fishing boat. When Izzy wanted to encourage their relationship he actually contributed to Ed panicking and breaking up with Stede before Stede could break up with him.

He is so bad at reading a situation. It's a good thing he won't be in s3 because knowing his track record he'd try to talk to Ed about how much Stede wants to wife him up and what would actually come out of his mouth would be some shit like "he doesn't want to be your boyfriend anymore" (because he wants to be your husband, but Ed would miss that obvious message because he'd already have melted into a sad little puddle)

[ofmdsalt]

i do think it’s funny that the gentlebeardies who proclaim their love for the revenge crew don’t actually talk that much about or create content for the revenge crew. they don’t give a shit about the “boatful of queer poc that Izzy sold out” (LMFAO) unless they can use the crew’s diversity as some kind of moral gotcha. they care about GB because that’s the only thing that matters about the show in their eyes. and it’s so fucking unoriginal!!! just endless regurgitated post about “omg they’re soooo in love~~ and isn’t it great that love conquered all their problems~~!” it’s unoriginal derivative dreck unless they have to invent new ways to lie about how izzy deserves the death penalty.

oh anon you get me

you have no idea how much i hate the diversity of the crew being used as a literal weapon in this fandom when it comes to demonizing izzy and washing Ed and Stede of any of their wrong doings.

im frustrated by the use of the crew in season 2 only because it was so painfully obvious to me that the budget cuts really affected the ensemble. the way the Swede and Buttons were written out of the show felt rushed and like it came out of nowhere, especially as those two characters, felt the 'least' developed out of the rest of them. so giving them both this long winded set up to be written out was too clunky for me.

i miss when Frenchie was singing and strumming along on his lute. i miss when Jim was Jim, because lbr that was Vico in s2. it just felt like Jim wasn't there anymore. i can't say what happened in the writer's room at that time or what sort of material Vico was given or if it skewed more to improve, but a lot of what was established for the characters in s1 was missing for me.

the rhetoric of this being the Ed&Stede show i think did more harm than good. the assertion that the other characters are only here in service of Ed and Stede's development reduces the sense of scale and scope and also agency these characters have.

a lot of the foundational aspects of GB as a ship i think falls a bit too much into fan service. people talk about how revolutionary and groundbreaking the ship is as a cis gay couple on screen. as if it hasn't been seen before. like i didn't get the wow moment of Stede in the mermaid costume as other fans did. Stede's dream at the beginning of season 2 with him killing Izzy and then colliding with Ed in this romantic gesture of love and passion on the beach is straight up fantasy for Stede, but i think fans took the idea of Stede literally killing Izzy a bit too seriously because that is Stede's fantasy. he wanted his reunion with Ed to be simple and understandable. that it was all Izzy's fault when the reality of the situation was so much messier and complicated. like David and the writers were literally telling us that Izzy is not the enemy here because this moment on the beach was pure fantasy. and fantasies can be dangerous

and then the fans said that Izzy deserved it, should have had his second leg shot and amputated, that he deserved to die, that he's still a nuisance even in death despite the fact that he's dead. that is both a master manipulator but also a cringe fail loser incapable of doing anything right. and it's like. okay. you don't seem to understand this character either.

like a lot of the problems in this fandom have existed before and will continue to exist in other iterations. every fandom has its ship wars. every fandom has long ass call out posts about characters they don't like. but let's not pretend this is anything revolutionary

what i've noticed is that this fandom will reach a burnout period and it's probably already upon us. the constant need to be like 'we're trending!!' when all algorithms are dog shit and glitchy as hell doesn't mean anything. plus the fact that there are only two seasons, less BTS content to go around, it's all coming from the same overdrawn well and eventually it will come up empty.

it's okay to step back. it's okay to leave a fandom for a bit and come back to it years down the road. it's okay. but all of this is exhausting

[rowenablade]

A word about Izzy’s grave.

I’ve seen a lot of people upset that Izzy wasn’t buried at sea, or that he wasn’t buried with his leg and ring, and I want to offer an alternative explanation in case it can bring some comfort. Maybe I’m just deluding myself, but I can’t function if I feel nothing but pain about this, so here I am trying to turn…well, you know.

First, the choice to bury Izzy on land. For that, I want to talk about the swallow tattoo.

In a traditional nautical context, a swallow tattoo has a few meanings. The one that I think this whole fandom knows by now is that it represents 5000 nautical miles sailed. Totally makes sense for Izzy to have this tattoo- it’s practical, it allows him to subtly brag about his skills, and the fact that it’s on one of the few pieces of skin he generally shows bears that out. Izzy has sailed at least 5000 nautical miles, and he wants anyone he meets to know that.

But there’s a couple other meanings too.

A swallow is migratory. It travels great distances, and returns to the place it makes its nest. By getting a swallow tattoo, a sailor is essentially praying that they, too, will be like a swallow. That they will travel far across the sea, but ultimately return safely home.

And failing that, if a sailor drowns, the swallow will fly their soul up to heaven.

You notice the theme in both these prayers? That they don’t end with the swallow in the ocean.

All birds, even sea birds, need a solid place to make their nests. The type of bird that never touches ground, that’s born in the air and never once touches the land? That’s not a type of bird that can actually exist, captain.

I go back and forth on whether I think Izzy, sentimental bastard that he is, knew about or considered these meanings when he got that swallow tattoo. But however you consider it, the swallow represents the sailor’s journey. And a successful sailor’s journey doesn’t end with the sailor at the bottom of the ocean. It ends with them at home.

Izzy is buried at Ed and Stede’s nest, because his sailor’s journey is over. He was a sailor, but he’s not anymore. He’s retired.

Second, the grave itself. I’ve seen people upset that they took off Izzy’s effects rather than bury him with them. Now, I’m sure my own perceptions color this. I’m fairly unsentimental when it comes to the actual, physical handling of the dead. I don’t believe the dead care what is done with their bodies. Obviously you’re going to feel differently based on your own experience and culture, and I respect that.

But here’s what I think the crew were thinking.

You notice something about the grave? No headstone. And honestly, why would there be? Most pirates can’t read. You put a traditional headstone on that grave, and nine out of ten people who have reason to care about the person buried there won’t know what it says. But an unmarked grave doesn’t feel right, nor does an anonymous cross. I challenge anyone who’s upset about the way Izzy was buried to tell me that an unmarked grave would have made them feel one whit better.

Pirates recognize Izzy. They know who he is. The sword, the ring, the wooden leg- this is how you write “Here lies Israel Hands,” in a language every pirate can understand.

Look. I don’t by any means think the show handled this death perfectly. And for those of you who are enraged to the point of hating the show now, I don’t expect this to make you feel better. But I suspect a burial at sea, or an unadorned cross, wouldn’t have made it any better either.

This is how I try to feel better. Because I can’t just be heartbroken. I can’t do it. And honestly the part of this that hurts the most is watching people who shared in my joy of this show say they hate it now. I’m sure I’m giving the writers and showrunners too much credit- I think the death looked and felt the way it did because they were pressed for time and took the quickest routes they could. But I need to be something other than angry about it, so here’s how I try to do that. I hope it helps someone else.

[three--rings]

Okay so I know we're in this big anti-sex cultural moment.

And I know my own personal standards on this issue are way out there. I am a sex first relationship later person. It's just how I roll. So I'm biased.

But I have to say, everyone talks like it's definitely for sure that it was a bad idea for Ed and Stede to have sex when they did.

And honestly, like, I'm not even arguing with that. It was a very understandable time for them to have sex. There should have been some more talking either before or AFTER about how they were both feeling. But it wasn't ideal perhaps.

Still I want to be clear: I don't think them having sex is the fucking problem here.

Ed is overwhelmed and unsure of where he fits right now. He's been through a lot of trauma recently (and caused a lot of course.) So it's understandable why he'd feel unprepared to add sex with Stede on top of it all.

However, they both do very much want to have sex with each other. And when two people are in love and really attracted to each other and really want to have sex, even if they have other reasons why they are holding back from it...well, eventually they're going to have sex. Sooner or later, but probably sooner.

Time in this show is very difficult to gauge, especially this season. So some time has passed between the moonlight scene and the beginning of ep 6. Ed had his leathers back, he's not wearing the bell, things have changed and progressed. It's not the next day. Probably.

We don't get to know how much time it's been or what has been said in between. Ed seems basically in the same place mentally. If not a worse one. Progress is not being made.

It's easy to criticize Stede for initiating a rather aggressive pounce on Ed in the wake of his trauma. But he's clearly not thinking. That's his issue, separate from the question of whether Ed is ready, so I'm not going to get into it. But he does pause, and he looks to Ed for permission, which Ed gives before enthusiastically and passionately joining in.

They both just went through a scary time. They both are seeking comfort in each other. It means sooner comes rather than later in the inevitable 'they're GOING to fuck' race. I know that sentence is a trashfire but let's move on.

Ed is happy in the morning. He's a little nervous, with the breakfast, but he feels good about dumping his leathers. He's come to a decision. Even after he starts to get nervous after Stede talks about their career, he's mostly fine when they go eat. Relaxed, happy about what happened.

And then all the fame stuff starts and he's fine at first. He talks to Jackie and is fine about it until Jackie is like yeah but you have a problem with your man. He talks to Izzy.

Now he's REALLY done a 180. He doesn't see his desired life and Stede's desired life matching up. Stede apparently doesn't understand Ed and where he's at if he thinks they're going to be pirates together now.

This is the problem. This is what upsets Ed. he spirals for hours. He's running scenarios and coming to negative conclusions. He's not valuable or loveable if he's not Blackbeard. Stede doesn't want him if he doesn't fit into that life. He needs to move on. He is panicked and freaking out.

Then he talks to Stede, after already making the decision to leave and go fishing. Like, let's be clear, he doesn't decide that during their fight. He's decided and signed on. He's just saying goodbye.

It's only then that he brings up the sex. He does throw blame at Stede for it a bit, which I think is mostly fair. But he also isn't accounting for Stede's state of mind at the time. They were both off tilt. But he digs into that, and to me, I think he's using the sex as an excuse.

He didn't have a problem with the sex itself. He was happy in the morning and after. Smiling, smug, cute, loved up, having heart to hearts about mermaids and letters.

It was all the life/identity stuff that crashed in that shifted him. But he doesn't know how to talk about that. He doesn't know how to explain it or be vulnerable about his worst fears and self-worth issues.

So he goes on offense and says hey, actually, this is your fault. He picks the issue he has words for, the only one they've actually talked at all about.

Stede is NOT wrong when he identifies Ed as panicking and wanting to run. Stede is recognizing the behavior from himself.

Just like it's not about Ed wanting to fish, it's not about them going too fast. It's about them not communicating about their deepest needs and desires and fears.

They can have sex or not have sex, if they're not communicating it won't work. They could continue fucking like rabbits and have long talks in between sessions and get really really far. Or do what they've been doing which is NOT having sex and also not communicating which can go on forever and they won't get closer to happy.

I feel like fandom has latched on to this one thing as The Problem, because it's all Ed SAID was a problem. But we have lots of evidence otherwise.

I mean, even the conversation...Ed says it's too fast, Stede is like...okay well we can do whatever. He doesn't get defensive even though he's hurt. But that's not good enough, because that's not actually the problem. But at that point Ed really starts running away.

And they start getting more heated, both being sloppy at expressing themselves. (Stede is unfortunately pretty freaking drunk.)

I think they are both very avoidant personalities when it comes to this kind of thing, this kind of deeply personal conflict. Their anxieties keep them from being honest. And so the sex combined with Stede's killing of a man, and newfound fame, that all became a crisis that forced them to confront these issues. I think ultimately probably for the best, instead of not addressing them.

[choco-cherry-chunk]

Thinking a lot about OFMD Steddyhands mpreg bullshit as usual but in such a tragic way because I love drama and horror and as much as I post kink and sweetness on this blog, I’m a horror and literary writer in my regular life lol. I want Izzy getting knocked up super young, prior to ever knowing Ed or piracy or anything of the like. His life wasn’t beautiful or soft or good, but he’s still a romantic at heart - call it the whimsy of youth or the impact of his mother, who knows? And when the owner of the boarding house he’s staying in knocks him up, the capital-R Romantic in him builds up a fantasy. That this man has fallen in love with him, that they will have a family, that they will live a simple and tender life together. But that’s just not how things work. Near the end of his second trimester, something happens. Some dockworkers, pirates, whoever, go after him. Who could say why? Later, there’s some talk that they were hired by the boarding house owner’s wife. But it ultimately doesn’t matter. His child never takes a breath and he is forced to bury him alone. Within a week, he’s out at sea, eventually to meet Ed and a crew of his own.

But beyond the past, I’m thinking of how such a reveal would exist with the main three. For Izzy, I feel like - because of what’s written above and the personal head canon that he’s not exactly careful during sex and has tended to either miscarry or abort conceptions with random pirates, he knows the signs of having gotten pregnant by his men. But he figures it is bound to be gone soon enough and does nothing. But there are little things. Changes he makes to care more for this possibility. Because while he will deny it to his last breath, the crew of The Revenge has invited that small capital-R Romantic back to him and maybe he does want a child, wants that softness with Ed and Stede, though he doesn’t know the first thing about such an existence.

For Ed, he would be caught in the middle. On one hand, I think he would fear becoming his father. Not just that he would treat a child in the manner that his father had, but that the title alone is enough to build resentment. That being called “Dad” is almost like a curse, having never known anyone to have a positive connection to that title in his life. He wants to play possum and pretend it isn’t happening, pointedly ignoring any changes that may need to be considered for their future. On the other hand, I also think he would only look at the surface level of the pregnancy and be excited. A baby is a child and children are entertaining. They’re weird and funny and different. He would see the baby to come almost as a commodity or toy, though not intentionally and would not see his views as that, but it is true. Kind of like the inn, he sees this future as a game, and is ready to take on the role (a word chosen very specifically) as father.

For Stede, as much as I love his sweetness and tender nature, I think it would be a mask that is slipping in this context. There is an artist on Twitter that did this beautiful comic (as soon as I can find it, I will link it and the artist here) about Ed and Stede’s time on the island building their inn, during which Ed is trans and gets pregnant, and he continues to have nightmares about Izzy’s death. All the while, Stede is clearly restless, happy to have Ed but not inclined to his return to land and monotony. He said himself that he isn’t meant for domesticity. And I know that the end of the show was rushed for reasons, but I wish Stede and Ed’s uncertainty of their future had been stretched; Stede’s pirating career building as Ed’s is coming to an end is fascinating. But to throw in a baby (and thus a clock) is all the more chaotic. Stede so often takes on this role of lightness and care, but he left his family for a reason. He loves them, but he didn’t want them. And now, the same thing he didn’t want has essentially followed him. How can thinks work out for the three of them? AUGH, I JUST WANT TO UNPACK THIS CHAOS!!

[suffersinfandom]

So. Magic.

[Text of an AO3 comment, cropped to leave out the writer: "I finally got a chance to finish S2 (unspoiled!) and came directly to this document after to devour its contents. But by the very first chapter I was taken aback by the concept that anyone in the world thinks Izzy's death is permanent. Did we even watch the same show? You can ignore literally every excellent piece of analysis here if you want - the fact remains that Buttons turned into a bird, through magic, in the third(?) episode, it never got mentioned again beyond maybe one throwaway line, and then that bird returns to Izzy's grave marker in the very last scene (other than the end stinger). There is zero reason for that to happen other than foreshadowing for Izzy/Buttons/magic/resurrection stuff to occur in S3 (if it hasn't already). What, do they think that Buttons was just super sad and paying his respects? I have like less than zero media analysis skills, I noticed basically nothing of what you pointed out in this entire document on my own, and yet I STILL picked up that there's more going on here."]

The thing is.

The thing is.

IS magic real in the world of OFMD?

I believe in my heart of hearts that Buttons is a seawitch who transmogrified himself into a seagull and I believe that cunty suit was cursed as heck, but I don't think that magic is strictly, technically, literally meant to be understood as real in OFMD.

(I know there are a few posts about the show's magic, so apologies if I rehash a half-remembered idea. Feel free to leave a link if you have any of those posts handy!)

OFMD's world is full of little magic. The Caribbean is easily traversed; people can find each other with no real issues (or avoid detection when that suits the story better); time and space are all hand-wavey. The world operates on vibes and convenience. If something needs to happen for the story's sake, it just does. Don't worry about it.

The show's big magic works the same way: we can analyze and try to parse out how stuff happens, but we're not asked to. Is the suit cursed or is Frenchie just allergic to peanuts? Did Stede bring Ed back to life or was Ed in a head injury-induced coma? Did Buttons turn into a bird or did an addled Ed lose track of Buttons in the woods? It doesn't matter, don't worry about it! What matters is that Stede (kind of) learned a lesson about listening to his crew and respecting their beliefs. What matters is that Stede's presence gave Ed the push he needed to save himself. What matters is the message behind Buttons' transformation: people can change.

The show's magic has some rules. When it comes to the big magic, there's always a logical out -- a way to explain it away and keep the story more-or-less grounded in reality. OFMD isn't going to give us some big, literal, onscreen magic act. It's not going to tell us that the Gravy Basket is an actual metaphysical location that souls swing by and anyone can be called back from. It's not going to show Izzy mystically resurrected after we saw him die a bloody death right in front of us.

Let's look at Buttons' transmogrification.

It's important that Ed is the only witness to his change because Ed is explicitly set up as an unreliable POV character in S2E4. We are told, in three different ways, that we can't trust what he sees (and what we see through him).

First: Roach, the closest thing we have to a medical professional, says that Ed is half-dead and brain-scrambled. His mind isn't right.

Second: Buttons says that Ed has one foot in the Gravy Basket and isn't entirely present. (Side note, but I don't think that Buttons using the term "gravy basket" is meant to establish it as an actual place. I believe this line is just meant to set up Ed as witness to the transformation; we don't need to read too much into Buttons, the character who Knows Things when convenient, saying it. Or, if you want to ground this in reality, you can assume that Buttons has talked about the Gravy Basket before and Ed subconsciously picked up on it.)

Third: Ed refers to a rabbit as a wolf, confirming that, yeah, he's having some issues with reality. Like, we don't really think that Ed can't identify a rabbit, right? I know the guy spends his time primarily on the ocean, but he's a genius who does, sometimes, set foot on land.

So Ed's out of it, and not even he has eyes on Buttons when the transformation is meant to occur. One minute we have a chanting Buttons, the next we have a seagull flapping around his transmogrification vessel. We all know that seagull is Buttons and he's off to make sweet love to the sea, but also... do we?

What matters is that Ed believes he saw a man turn into a bird so he could better love the sea. That's it! Ed, someone who desperately needed proof that people can change -- that he and Stede can change -- has that proof and can truly start healing. It's beautiful and I love it, ten out of ten, five stars, no notes.

If we're lucky enough to get a season three with Ewen Bremner in it, I fully expect a butt-naked Buttons to show up with absolutely no explanation. Maybe we get a few little wink-wink nudge-nudge moments hinting to his time as a seagull, but straight confirmation that magic is real would break the rules the show has established.

Anyway. All of this is really just my way of saying that Izzy's dead and it'd be extremely fucking weird and world-breaking if he crawled out of his grave thanks to bird magic.

[bringthekaos]

Gunna take a break from Arcane for a moment to talk about Our Flag Means Death, because I am extremely disappointed and I have to put these thoughts somewhere. Putting it under a cut, because I myself forgot to filter the OFMD tag while I was working and got it spoiled for me. So ye be warned, OFMD SPOILERS AHEAD.

That ending was genuinely one of the worst I’ve seen in a long time. The only other time I can recall being this sickened and angry about a show’s ending was Game of Thrones. And it’s not because I’m sad or mad or confused by Izzy’s death, yes that’s partly it, but because a character who was experiencing massive change and character growth was ONCE AGAIN rewarded with death. I am so goddamn sick of rooting for people to do better, to be better, and then FINALLY get that catharsis only to have it thrown away for shock value.

What did this add to the story? Narratively, I mean. If this is indeed the end of OFMD, and it doesn’t get renewed, what the absolute FUCK kind of message does that send? Izzy was postured as some kind of obstacle between Ed and Stede in Season 1, but in S2, he was allowed to grow outside of that weird and fucked up love triangle (term used incredibly loosely, because his love was pretty much one-sided, and most of the time it was selfish and toxic). In S2, he went on an incredible journey of coming to terms with the fact that Ed would never be his again, not in the way he wanted. Even if it was never romantic or sexual (I do not see it), he wanted Ed to himself, and he had to accept that it would never happen. And he fucking DID, that’s the pisser. He learned to see the value in Ed’s transformation, the good that Stede was for him. And he learned to appreciate it and even start playing with it and teasing the two of them. And the worst/best part was that he embraced the crew, put them into that hole in his heart that Ed left. His speech to the Prince about them being family, and that you give up your wants and dreams for them, because being a pirate is bigger than any one person alone. GOD, his fucking character growth was incredible and heart-wrenching all at once.

And then to just throw all of that away, for what? To remove him as an obstacle between Ed and Stede? He already did that himself. To make the title of the show mean something (that the flag truly means Death?). That is just so fucking cheap and backhanded. Oh, Our Flag Means Death, but no one has died yet, better kill somebody; quick shoot Izzy Hands. How about you just make the word ‘death’ a symbol for change? The death of who you once were, the death of old biases, the death of toxicity and selfishness.

Because what would have been the problem with making Izzy the new captain of the Revenge, and letting Ed and Stede go off and do their thing? In the grand scheme of the narrative, why did two characters’ happy ending have to come at the cost of another’s?! It cheapens that happy ending, puts an asterisk on it. Especially when Izzy had JUST come to the realization that that crew, those people (no matter how ridiculous and soft they were) were his motherfucking family and he would do anything to protect them. He should have gotten to, and I just… I cannot forgive that. I’m not saying you can’t kill off characters, we shouldn’t expect anyone to have plot armor. But for god’s sake, at least make it make sense, give it a reason beyond shock value.

If OFMD gets a third season, I may or may not watch. It’s more than likely I won’t. And not because I don’t love the Stede/Ed story, or any of the other beautiful ones on that ship, I do. But because I’ve lost faith in the story.

[sixstepsaway]

right, so, here are my Thoughts about that whole thing now i've slept on it. probably won't be super coherent but here we go

i feel bad for stede. he got shoved, somehow, into the weird love interest role so many female characters find themselves in, where they are truly completed by a man and a romance not the things they've been striving for throughout the series so far. he's shown no sign of wanting to give up the pirate lifestyle he's just finally got back, and to accompany him giving that up with izzy's gorgeous "piracy is about family and somewhere to belong" speech from earlier just feels cruel. we joke about how episode 2 stede wouldn't care if lucius died but that changed, he got attached, his crew became his family. they were loyal to him and followed him even when they were just working at spanish jackie's for pennies. they respected him and loved him enough to let him talk them into letting ed back on board. this was, at least at this point in stede's arc, his happy ending. in fact, you can even argue he was happy without ed for a while at the start of this episode. his relationship with ed is important and it's icing on the cake, but it isn't something to complete him, or his only source of happiness -- nor should it be!!! and then for some reason ed shows back up, fishes up his leathers, kicks ass to save him, loses izzy and now they're leaving stede's ship and crew and found family to... run an inn made out of the world's shittiest fixer-upper? stede? stede twirly fancypants bonnett??? in that place? maybe at the end of a full run this might have felt like a good conclusion to his story, him realizing he wanted belonging, not necessarily to be a pirate, and maybe them bringing some of crew along to have their home somewhere safer and happier than the piracy they don't really enjoy but turn to because they have no other choice, but right now it just feels like... honestly like either he agreed to it to keep ed with him ("AITA for convincing my boyfriend to run an inn with me after leaving him two days ago because we were moving too fast? little backstory: this involved my boyfriend leaving everything in his life for me and no i did not apologize for running off to become a fisherman") or like, as i said up there, a matter of "actually all he needed was a BOYFRIEND all along" which... ngh. stede is more than his relationship.

idk why we bothered establishing that frenchie, jim and even archie were willing to put their lives on the line and lie to ed's murderous face to save izzy's life just for them to be stone-faced and have no feelings about his loss. like, okay, ed and he's stories are tied together and him dying in ed's arms makes more sense narratively than him dying in anyone else's, but also ed hadn't earned that and izzy deserved to die in the arms of someone who hadn't tried to kill him and shot him in the leg not to mention we went from fang's squishy hug and frenchie holding his hand to just... nothing? not a thing? roach, the ship's surgeon, did nothing to try and save him? it's just ed slapping his gunshot wound pathetically?

it strongly feels like they swapped izzy and ed's roles in his death scene sounds stupid but hear me out "you're my only family" would make so much more sense coming from izzy with ed dying in his arms. izzy's desperation to keep hold of ed, right down to accidentally pushing him down the kraken path at the end of season 1, being rooted in the feeling that ed is all he has in the world? ed responding that no, the crew love izzy. he's earned their love. he has a family outside of ed now, can't he see that? that makes so much more sense, considering izzy nearly died for them multiple times and spent the first few episodes trying to protect them and then being protected by them in kind he was their new unicorn!!! meanwhile ed said sorry to fang, izzy and lucius, and no one else has been shown to give any fucks about him since that whole thing, and like... rightly so? because he hadn't earned them back at all? and he fucked off on them too last episode lol dont forget he didnt JUST leave stede

we should have known better than to trust djenks when he broke jim and olu up for no reason ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ idk

nothing worth a damn happened this episode it was all running around and waving swords. idk how anyone got to where they were at the end. it was just poor writing.

the pacing has been off all season but they really shoved three episodes into one and hoped it'd work

i'm getting flashbacks to the timeless ~finale~ ugh

they spent so much time one ed's stupid fishing boat monologue instead of on ANYTHING ELSE

i ran out of thoughts

oh, here's another: the show walked a line between muppetry and things that were taken seriously lucius' finger, izzy's toes: serious ed getting bonked by a cannonball: emotionally serious, but not physically serious ed and stede both getting stabbed: not serious and what was treated as serious and what was treated as handwavy was dictated by what the storyline and the emotional needs were izzy getting shot to make it so they all had to run away yapping would have been hilarious, especially if he got back to the ship and went "nah eddie it's my left side, remember what i told you about the left? nothing important on the left" "your liver" <- roach, horrified but instead weird death scene because this was treated as physically serious, even though it...should not have been, really? and that is bothering me a lot too, because when lucius was thrown to his death, we looked at stede finding the crew on the island and went, "aha! lucius will be fine, because that's what the show logic is" and we were right, because the show had taught us that but that didn't extend to izzy for this and that's just weird

[darkshrimpemotions]

People who say Stede doesn't care about the crew in season 2 or is uniquely careless with them in season 2 compared to season 1 baffle me.

Stede in season 1 can be thoughtless and a little selfish, and often is! But that's tempered by genuine care and a desire to be kind to others as well. Small but pertinent example from season 1? The petrified orange.

Stede outright SAYS he didn't want to give it up, but he still offered it to Jim without hesitation, because he felt it was right as it came from their childhood home. I don't think him admitting he didn't want to give it up after they gave it back undermines that, either. If anything, he did something he REALLY DIDN'T WANT TO DO in an attempt to be fair and kind to a member of his crew.

There are a ton of examples like this throughout season 1, where Stede is oblivious to others' needs or feelings until he isn't, until he makes the conscious effort to stop and think and choose to exercise care.

And season 2 shows that this is still very true of Stede. If anything, he puts his needs aside MORE often and faster, with even less hesitation than he did in season 1. Especially when it really matters.

If he didn't care, would Stede have gone straight to Zheng Yi Sao to ask for mercy for the crew's mutiny against Ed? Would he have postponed allowing himself to grieve for Ed in order to RESCUE the very people he thought had killed him?

Like...we moved past that little fact SO fast because of the merman of it all, but genuinely. Let that sink in a bit. STEDE THOUGHT ED'S CREW HAD VIOLENTLY MURDERED HIM. And he still cared enough to see that they were acting out of desperation, and offered no recriminations or condemnation even when Izzy literally asked him for it. He put his grief on hold and came up with a plan to help them all escape execution.

He was also initially willing to go along with exiling Ed from the ship to make the crew feel safe! Even though he clearly didn't want to, at all. All season, all he wanted was Ed back, and yet he put the crew's needs first again. He only asked them to reconsider once he realized Ed would be sleeping alone in the woods, and worked with Ed to make sure all their stipulations were met when they agreed.

He is literally the ONLY person to express direct and obvious concern about Izzy's drinking all season, even when he and Izzy still weren't on the best of terms. He went to Izzy for help becoming a better pirate captain, and I genuinely think that was as much for the crew as it was for Stede himself. After his talk with Ed about how he could repair some of the damage he'd done, Stede immediately sought out someone he thought could help him overcome his own inadequacies and avoid doing more damage there.

He also got rid of the suit despite not believing it was cursed, just to make the crew feel better. He encouraged Ed to find ways to be helpful and rebuild trust with the crew. Convinced him to go along with Calypso's Birthday to help the crew de-stress and have some fun. When he killed Ned Low his first stated reason for that, what was it? "You tortured my crew."

(And his last was "you fucked Calypso's birthday," which we know he knows was just an excuse for the crew to have some fun.)

How does anyone watch all that and think Stede doesn't CARE enough?!

Thinking of others before himself may not be his first instinct all the time, but whose is? And in his case, how the hell would it be? When you've spent your entire life--prior to the last few months at most--never being thought of and being mocked or rejected for your every attempt at reaching out to other people, is it any surprise you'd withdraw into yourself and stop bothering?

So it isn't a skill Stede has built, and it isn't something that comes naturally to him, but it's still one he makes an effort to use. It may not be his first instinct, but it's still what he DOES when he stops and thinks about his actions. That's so important! He cares! On purpose!

[gremloblin]

Ok I have some thoughts

So Ed got slammed in the head with a fucking cannonball. I know this show doesn’t exactly rely on real life logic, like ever. I mean people get stabbed and are up and around in two days, they have no problem finding each other in a massive sea. But Ed’s been effectively dead for days, if not weeks based on the way they were eating that seagull. He’s gonna be severely dehydrated and starved from being comatose, and have major head trauma. He’s not just gonna get up, it’s a wonder he has the strength to headbutt Stede.

But severe head trauma can seriously fuck with your memory. So there’s a huge question of what version of Ed we’re gonna get: Blackbeard pre-Stede, Ed with Stede, or post-Stede. Bc those are three TOTALLY different people. I doubt we’ll get that season one fawning over Stede version of Ed, based on the headbutt and the fact that it would be a narrative step backward, but it’s still a possibility that he’ll wake up and be in love with Stede like before. But I think pre-Stede Blackbeard is as likely as having no memory loss at all.

If he does have memory loss, it begs the question of what everyone is gonna do with that. Like Stede is feeling so much guilt for what he did to Ed, and he’s learned that guilt is something you have to express and have to live with. But reminding Ed of everything they both did and went through could have Ed leave him. Stede has never been the one to take the easy route, but he loves Ed so much and has been doing the hard thing for so long, he’s gotta just be tired. He almost lost Ed several times now, he can’t risk losing him again.

Meanwhile the rest of the crew probably would love for Ed to go back to the way things were, but he’s destroyed everything they’d worked so hard for. And he and Stede are both so unwilling to think of other people or take responsibility for their actions. I really don’t think they’ll allow Ed to go on like nothing happened, at least not for long. Izzy in particular has shown himself to be very concerned with the wellbeing of the crew, and is living with this guilt of turning Ed into a monster. As much as he now misses the way things were, he can’t just ignore what Ed did.

But Lucius has been through hell and though he seemed to forgive stede idk how he could forgive ed after trying to help him so much in the finale. Though I do wonder if he really cares about ed anymore, like even in terms of wanting revenge, like what he said about ed being broken kinda feels like totally giving up and just accepting that he’s a bad person and there’s no closure to be found there. I also really wonder if he’s gonna tell Pete about what ed did, because he didn’t initially and I think it would have been mentioned if he told him when stede finally got them to talk. Pete idolized ed so much but he loves Lucius so much I really think if he finds out he’s gonna kill him. Like Lucius will be mad but I do think he’s given up on it but for Pete it’ll still be so fresh and he’ll be protective.

As for the rest of the crew, I’m not sure how they’ll react. The fact that Ed marooned them really hasn’t come up, and that makes me wonder if they’ve somewhat gotten over it? For Ed’s crew, however, everything is still fresh, and it was so much worse for them. Whether Ed is the same person or not, nobody’s gonna get over him trying to kill them all. Fang I think would love to go back to the way things were, Frenchie is currently holding everything in. The ones I’m worrying about are Jim and Archie. Archie is a wildcard, and has not experienced the compassion and love of the crew “that’s just the way these things go.” She’s cynical, and while I think Jim and the crew could soften her and we’ll learn more about her, I think right now she could go either way.

Jim however, dealt the killing blow. Jim took care of Izzy, amputates his leg, saves Archie. But they still hesitate to tell Stede what really happened. I think a lot of Jim has moved on from that revenge driven killer, at least in season one, and has softened a bit. But they’ve been raiding and plundering and killing for months. They’re brutal in the wedding scene.

Jim strikes me as very protective of the crew, in the same way as Izzy. They calm down Fang with their weird little Pinocchio, they’re the one to bring up that the wedding was overkill, they ask Frenchie how he copes. They “kill” Ed. I think it’s a real possibility that they’re gonna try to finish the job, especially if he doesn’t lose his memory. If he does, I think they’ll hesitate.

Anyway I’m so excited to see what happens, no matter what I know it’s gonna be crazy.

[piratecaptainscaptainpirates]

For the 1k word fics, maybe one where Ed finally talks with Lucius? The more angsty the better >:)

This prompt has lived rent-free in my head since you sent it in. I had a lot of fun with it!!

(Pretty much always taking prompts for 1k word fics! I love 'em because they're great to write when I have writer's block on other projects, so don't be shy!)

--

Enough was enough.

Ed had been out of his probation period for a few days now. Most of the crew seemed to be comfortable enough with him again; they came up to him with questions, they invited him to sit next to them at dinner, they talked with him and invited his input. Lucius had…stopped flipping him off every time he saw him out on deck.

Thing was, Ed was genuinely trying to leave all that awful dark scary Kraken shit in the past, and pushing Lucius overboard to the sharks? That had been the worst thing he’d ever done during all that nastiness. Lucius had only ever offered him support and friendship, and Ed had pushed him overboard for it. And now Lucius made a point of talking over Ed, shouting at him, dismissing his suggestions, insulting him, and just generally proving at every opportunity how much he hated him.

And Ed knew he deserved all that and worse. But if he was going to leave the Kraken behind, something would have to give.

When he overheard Roach talking about something Izzy had told him at breakfast, Ed knew his game plan.

It only took Ed a few seconds to get everything he needed set up, and then he found Lucius up on deck. When someone flips you off that enthusiastically at every opportunity, you can’t really miss them.

“Hey,” he said, making a beeline up to him. “Can you come with me for a sec?”

“Absolutely fucking not,” Lucius said immediately.

Ed’s pleading desperation must have shown on his face, because Lucius made a sort of go-ahead gesture, and he let Ed lead him to a space he’d cleared out in the empty galley. He’d already set up bottles of antiseptic, gauze, and everything he’d figured he might need.

“What’s all this?” Lucius frowned at the equipment Ed had laid out, and he shouted in alarm when Ed thrust the old saw into his hands.

“Izzy said you suggested cutting my leg off,” Ed said, plopping down on the bench and stretching his bad leg up in front of him at what he figured was an ideal chopping height. “Have at it. I’d prefer this one, but, uh, dealer’s choice.”

Lucius just kept blankly looking at him.

“I expected some reluctance, but don’t worry,” he said, holding up one hand to show the length of rope he’d looped around his wrist. He put his hands behind his back, slipping his other wrist into the knot he’d prepared, then tugging at his arms to prove to Lucius he wouldn’t be able to get free. “See? Not gonna try to hit you or anything. Whenever you’re ready.”

He hoped Lucius wouldn’t be able to see how hard he was shaking, and he jumped a mile when Lucius just tossed the saw onto the table.

“You fucking idiot,” Lucius spat, “I’m not doing that!”

“It’s okay,” Ed assured him, “I know I deserve it -”

“I don’t want to chop your leg off!”

Ed just stared up at him. This had been his last hope. “Then what do you want?”

“Oh, uh, I dunno,” Lucius said, “maybe a fucking apology?”

Ed snorted disbelievingly. “That’s all you want? You just want me to say, I dunno, oh, Lucius, I’m so sorry for what I did to you, and it was the worst time of my life but that’s no excuse, I was scared and I hurt you and I’m sorry, and I think about it often, and I feel terrible, and I wish I had a way to tell you how deeply I regret hurting you, and could you please forgive me?”

“Yes,” Lucius said simply.

Ed blinked.

“Oh, Lucius,” he said softly. “I am so sorry for what I did to you. It was the worst time of my life, but that’s no excuse. I was scared and I hurt you because of it and I’m sorry. I think about it often, and I feel terrible. I wish I had a way to tell you how deeply I regret hurting you. Could you please forgive me?”

“See, that’s a fucking start,” Lucius said, crossing his arms and nodding primly. “Follow-up question. What did I do to deserve that? What did I do to you that made you do that to me?”

Lucius’ voice wobbled, a bit, and Ed looked at the floor to avoid having to meet his eyes.

“So, uh,” he started haltingly, “you remember how you listened to my lyrics? And you gave me advice and shit?”

“Mhm.”

“Izzy kinda said that he should’ve let the English kill me and I better watch my fuckin’ step -”

Lucius reeled back a bit. “Shit, did he really?”

“Yep,” Ed said, with the best shrug he could manage with his arms behind his back. “And if I had to go back to being Blackbeard, I figured you were the only one who could’ve seen through me.”

“That is fucked up,” Lucius said with a loud groan. “That is so fucked of you, that is such shit.”

“Yeah.” Ed went back to looking at the floor. “I was having a really shitty time of it, and I wasn’t thinking right. I’m sorry, man.”

“For what it’s worth,” Lucius sighed, “I was kind of having a really shitty time of it when I said the whole chopping your leg off idea. I didn’t really mean it.”

Ed let his shoulders relax. “Could you maybe untie me? This knot is really tight, I can’t feel my fingers.”

“Yeah, sure,” Lucius mumbled, grabbing the pair of medical scissors on the table.

Ed still held his breath as Lucius moved behind him, but he just cut the rope without even attempting to stab him in the back. Progress.

“We’re not good,” Lucius said when he crossed back in front of him again. “We’re nowhere close to good yet.”

“Understood,” Ed mumbled.

“But.” Lucius held out a hand. “Crewmates?”

Ed beamed, taking his hand for an enthusiastic shake. “Crewmates.”

[adzeisval]

The Tragedy of Ed and Izzy

My read on Ed and Izzy is that they were once better friends, that they once worked well together, and were on the same page regarding piracy. 

There's a lot about Ed and Izzy we don't know, but I just don’t see Edward being pushed into piracy by a controlling and abusive Izzy. I also don’t see Izzy as having been put upon to deal with Ed all the time.

They built the legend of Blackbeard together and I fully believe that it was fun for Edward. Captaining his own ship, creating fuckery after fuckery and being a genius sailor, Ed was having fun! He had support and help from Izzy who was also benefiting from the Blackbeard legend as it gave him safety, security, and purpose. 

Then Edward fell out of love with piracy and Izzy didn't.

The relationship started to strain. For me why they stayed together was a mix of familiarity and not knowing how to move forward. 

Ed was bored and wanted to move on, Izzy couldn't understand why Ed wanted to leave what they had built together. Izzy pushed Edward and Edward dismissed Izzy's concerns. They stayed together hoping that things would get better. Ed hoped that Izzy would follow him anywhere and Izzy hoped that Ed would regain his love for piracy.

Ed didn’t know how to untangle himself from Blackbeard, especially when Izzy didn’t want to cut those ties. Neither man wanted the other to be miserable but their communication and understanding had broken down. When we met Ed and Izzy things were almost at the breaking point. 

Stede comes along and Ed has hope that his life can be different. Izzy doesn’t understand how close to a mental break Edward is and sees Stede as a threat to the legacy of Blackbeard and still wants Ed to stay in piracy. 

As their discontent comes to a head Izzy and Ed do shitty things to each other. Izzy pushes Ed to stay Blackbeard and says cruel things to him. He could have gotten Ed killed when the English attack. Ed cuts off three of Izzy's toes, making him eat at least one of them, and shoots him in the leg. Izzy laughs at Ed for being too cowardly to kill himself, and Ed leaves Izzy with a loaded gun knowing what he’ll do with it. They were both horrible to each other, just in different ways. In their frustration with each other they turn to the first things in their arsenal; violence and cruel words because they don’t know any other way to be. 

They both hit rock bottom and then start to climb up. Izzy finds a new place to belong, Ed starts to repair his relationship with Stede and explore his options going forward. They both start to be better men. 

Ed and Izzy have been together so long it’s not surprising that they dance around each other, unsure, as they start talking again. I think Izzy is drunk when he starts talking to Ed again because he’s nervous. Ed blurts out a quick apology because he’s not used to apologizing. It’s a start. Izzy urges Ed to do what he feels is right going forward, do what feels good for Ed. After seeing Ed at his darkest and having some responsibility in it Izzy just wants Ed to be happy.

Izzy has decided to move past what Ed did to him; he reframes losing his leg with the shark story and fully embraces the concept of “Not moving on is worse”. The hurt is still there but he won’t let it destroy him. 

Ed is opening himself up to Stede again and trying to repair his relationship with the crew; he has a lovely talk with Fang, and gives Lucius the opportunity to push him off the ship. The latter might not work but Ed’s trying. The hurt is still there but he won’t let it destroy him. 

So moving into the finale we have Ed and Izzy both moving forward with their new lives and also trying to figure out where they belong in each other’s lives, if at all. 

Then Izzy gets shot. 

Izzy is dying and he knows it. There is so much left to say and talk about but now they only have a few minutes. They both apologize. Then Izzy offers some solace to Ed; we were both Blackbeard, you don’t need him anymore let all that die with me. 

Izzy knew it was possible to come back from the darkness they had dragged each other down into and there was enough love left between him and Ed that he wanted Ed to be alright. 

Izzy urges Ed to just be himself, and that Ed is worthy of love and family, that he has love and a family outside of Izzy. Only now at the end are they both open and vulnerable with each other.

Izzy and Ed part on good terms, they choose to spend their last moments not fixated on the rough times they had but on the love that wasn’t fully extinguished by those times. Izzy expresses his love by using his time to make sure Ed was going to be okay, Ed expresses his love by holding Izzy and calling Izzy his family. 

Izzy’s death brings closure to Ed, and Izzy is at peace as he passes away. 

Ed and Izzy are a tragedy; two men who were at the top of their game and friendship who fall into darkness, who drag each other down into it, but who come out of it with new hope and purpose. It's tragic that Ed and Izzy only figured it all out at the very end, but in the end it was about love.

They loved each other, best they could.

[magniloquent-raven]

i have this idea for a fic that i'll probably never write but just hear me out

ed gets adopted by a stray cat

he's the rattiest little tabby with half a tail and a notched ear. no one in the area really knows where he came from but a couple merchants stede talked to think he might've been a ship cat someone left behind. people always find him at the docks, anyways. staring out at the sea. maybe he just goes there hoping to catch fish.

and he's not a friendly cat, is the thing. he skulks around giving everyone the evil eye, he hisses when people come near him, and he's never accepted the food scraps kids will throw him hoping to earn his trust. no one knows why he insists on hanging around populated areas if he hates people so much, but he's been there long enough they've just sort of accepted it.

stede has no interest in the cat, once he realized the thing was never going to let him pet it he gave up, but ed. ed won't stop getting distracted looking for him every time they're in town, craning his neck around corners trying to catch a glimpse of grey fur and angry green eyes. he's started putting leftover bits of dinner in his pocket and leaving them around. under the pier. behind a fruit stall in the market. anywhere he's seen the cat hang out. he never sees the cat eat, but the bits of food are always gone when he comes back. (probably birds, he thinks. or weirdo kids. anything could've gotten them)

then one day the cat follows them home. and will not leave. not that they try very hard to make him. stede shoos him half-heartedly when he catches the cat on the porch, scratching at splintery bits, but he gives up when he sees the starry look on ed's face. they're replacing all that wood anyways, what's a little more damage?

ed sets aside bowls for the cat. for food and water. they get left on the porch, and he finds them empty every morning. the cat rarely comes inside, and never comes very close, but it's okay because ed loves just watching him go about his business. he takes all his business so seriously. stalking bugs and licking his paw and digging holes in the sand. it's all very important. and adorable.

they have a breakthrough when ed is having a bad day.

he's had so many good days since him and stede decided to settle here. sure, it's been weird and difficult doing shit he's not used to doing, but it's also been fucking great. because stede's here doing it too.

but some days are just hard. some days his knee aches and he's gotten one too many bug bites and all the good shit isn't enough to keep him from sitting by izzy's grave and just. hurting.

stede brought him tea earlier. kissed his forehead and asked if he wanted come company. he didn't. he did. but he didn't. so stede promised to come back in an hour and see how he was feeling then.

he's not sure how long it's been, but the tea is long gone and the wind is irritating and sitting on the ground sucks. but. then the cat comes over. and starts playing with izzy's tie. it's still hanging off the makeshift cross they made him, a little sun-faded now. it had been swaying in the breeze until the cat pounced out of nowhere and caught it between his paws.

and ed's first instinct is to jolt, swear, shoo the cat away, but then he freezes, half holding on to the tie, the cat still digging his claws into the other end of it, looking up at ed with his eyes wider than ed's ever seen them. he looks young like that. and he's so much smaller up close.

ed wiggles the tie a little, and the cat bats at it some more.

it's fucking morbid, playing with what's essentially a memorial to someone who died in his arms. his insides clench when he thinks about it like that.

but then he thinks about it differently. he thinks about izzy. always keeping himself apart, holding himself like he didn't need to lean on anything, anyone. acting like he didn't have soft hopes behind steel bars. but he cared. he cared about ed. about their crew. he would've scoffed at ed being silly about a cat. but he would've done it with gentle eyes and a suppressed grin.

"he would've liked you." ed's sure of it. he would've hated the scratches all over everything, and the little holes he was poking in izzy's favourite tie, but none of that would've really mattered. as much as he'd curse and bluster about how much of a bastard the cat was, they would've understood each other.

the cat blinks at him. and chomps on the tie, a quiet growl rumbling in his scraggly chest.

and ed smiles for the first time since he woke up that morning.